On January 8, 2008, a group of inmates filed a class action civil rights lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging that officers with the Georgia Department of Corrections had engaged in a pattern and practice of systematically ... read more >

On January 8, 2008, a group of inmates filed a class action civil rights lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging that officers with the Georgia Department of Corrections had engaged in a pattern and practice of systematically beating restrained inmates in violation of the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution, the civil rights laws of the United States and the Georgia Constitution and laws. Plaintiffs alleged that the beatings and torture were afflicted primarily by members of CERT Team ("Correctional Emergency Response Team"). Plaintiffs were represented by private counsel and sought declaratory and injunctive relief, monetary damages and class certification.

On March 14, 2011, the Court (Judge Hugh Lawson) dismissed several claims pursuant to the defendants' motion to dismiss. The Court found that several of the prisoner plaintiffs failed to exhaust their administrative remedies. Additionally, several defendants were dismissed for failure to plead the claims in adequate detail, as required by Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 129 S.Ct. 1937.

On March 14, 2012, the Court severed the claims asserted by two of the plaintiffs pursuant to Rule 21, dismissed several more defendants, and set trial on the remaining claims for July 2012. On July 2, 2012, the plaintiffs stipulated to dismissal of the lawsuit.

All imates at the Valdosta State Prison and at other Georgia prisons who have been subjected to excessive force, summary punishment, or premeditated violence by being beaten while restrained by CERT Team Officers at Valdosta State Prison or other prisons